Home / Vulnerabilities / CVE-2016-10033
CRITICAL SEVERITY
CVE-2016-10033 PHP · PHPMailer

PHPMailer Command Injection Vulnerability

Technical Severity

CVSS v3.1 Metrics

CRITICAL
9.8 / 10
Minimal Risk Critical
Vector Specification
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Exploitation Likelihood

EPSS Prediction

94.47 %
Predictive Probability
Percentile Rank
100.0 th

Documented as more likely to be exploited than 100.0% of known CVEs.

Detection Date

Jul 07, 2025

Remediation Due

Jul 28, 2025

CISA Catalog Active

Threat Analysis

PHPMailer contains a command injection vulnerability because it fails to sanitize user-supplied input. Specifically, this issue affects the 'mail()' function of 'class.phpmailer.php' script. An attacker can exploit this issue to execute arbitrary code within the context of the application. Failed exploit attempts will result in a denial-of-service condition.

Remediation Directive

Apply mitigations per vendor instructions, follow applicable BOD 22-01 guidance for cloud services, or discontinue use of the product if mitigations are unavailable.

External Intelligence

This vulnerability could affect an open-source component, third-party library, protocol, or proprietary implementation that could be used by different products. For more information, please see:

https://github.com/PHPMailer/PHPMailer/releases/tag/v5.2.18

https://github.com/advisories/GHSA-5f37-gxvh-23v6

https://github.com/advisories/GHSA-5f37-gxvh-23v6
NVD

National Vulnerability Database

https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2016-10033